Wandering through the Redwoods

Saturday we were at a park in Marin county walking along twisty roads and shady trails, and it was a really great walk. The best part is that the walkers pretty much stayed together, so there were about 8 of us walking in a bunch most of the time. We took some wrong turns and had to backtrack a bit, so a few of us made the executive decision that we would just turn around after a certain amount of time. I had a great time talking with my teammates and I only had pain for a little while. There was one point where I wondered if I should turn back, but I decided to keep going and the pain went away and I was able to stay pretty constant. I believe that I could have gone faster than the pace of chat, but it was lovely to not be walking alone like I often do.

I had my MRI on Wednesday, so we shall see if anything shows up there. At this point, there's not a whole lot that could be done about anything that shows up, so I'll just keep listening to my body and keeping up my pokey pace. We'll address the problem later, because as psychotic as this sounds, I do want to keep doing this. I want to do a full marathon, or at least do a fast half next.

For this race, I've decided to walk the half-marathon (13.1 miles) instead of the full due to my lack-o-speed. I'm a little bit disappointed because a snotty, overly competitive part of my brain feels like the half isn't that much of a challenge, but for my legs, clearly it is. The main issue is that it's when I try to go faster that I get The Cramp, and I really would need to pick up the pace to finish the marathon in the time that the course is open, so I can't do it this time. I figure that if my legs don't want to cooperate on race day, I can drag myself 13.1 miles even if it takes me as long as the full marathoners. Huzzah!

Sad, sad, sad. And grateful.

I e-mail occasionally with a guy from high school who also goes to my old church in MI. He had mentioned a sick friend from church from time to time, but I didn't know who he was. From my friend's myspace page, I hit the page of another girl that I knew from choir. Her blog mentioned the same sick guy a few times and also mentioned his website. When I got to the his website, I realized that I recognized him. I don't know him, but I recognize him from church. I remember thinking that he was cute when I saw him in choir. Well, he died Monday from a very rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was only diagnosed 9 months ago (on my birthday last year) and his body rejected the bone marrow transplant that he received. I just read the past 6 months of updates and cried and cried. I know that I'm rambling a bit here, but basically I'm sad and also very glad that I'm doing what I'm doing with LLS.

Wahoo!

Today was a VERY good day; possibly the best walk I've had. I just stayed slow and didn't care one whit about going fast, so there wasn't any pain. My doctor (orth) and p.t. looked at me like a maniac when I said I was going to try to do 11 miles today, so I chalked that and did the 7 that those doing the 1/2 marathon had scheduled for today. When I asked him (doctor) where the line is between bravery ("You can do it! No quitting! etc.) and stupidity, his first answer was 11 miles. Then he gave a more practical answer- when tingling/numbness starts, I have to stop.

Well, today I didn't have a hint of pain at all, so it just totally rocked. I was listening to my body, and it just said, "Walk on, sister!"

Just a quick update on the non-progress

Now, that's actually not true. I shouldn't be negative. I just took the week off to rest my weary bones a bit. I saw the p.t. a couple times, iced things just about every day, and stretched a lot.

Today was just too stinkin' hot to walk (102!!) during the day, and I'm trying to stay away from the creek in the evening, so I rested again. Tomorrow I plan on doing what is in my training instructions: about 3 miles, I believe. It's actually focused on time tomorrow and goal pace, but I'm just going to see how the new shoes and stretched out and abused body do. (Oh, didn't I mention the shoes? There's nothing I love more than spending big money on two pairs of ugly shoes in two months. (Fine, not so much ugly as much as "futuristic and not at all fashionable".))

Again, I'm not worried at all about my ability to do this: financially or physically. I have three months and I have perfect faith that all will go smoothly. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me in every way!

Ick, Ack, and Uck

So, the orth. surgeon thinks that I may have compartment syndrome, but he wants me to get an MRI and/or a bone scan to see if there is anything to see. He also sent me to a physical therapist, who I have seen once and shall see again twice this week. The physical therapist was to see if there is something "Frankenstein" (doctor's word) about my body or walk that may be contributing to the problem.

In a word? Yes. Or you can go with Frankenstein. Your choice. So I've been pulled and stretched and pushed and prodded, and I'm sure that there will be more loveliness of the same nature tomorrow. My hips are very tight, along with other parts of my legs, and that may be making my shins work harder than they should have to do. Oh, and my legs may be on wrong. Well, not wrong, being that "everyone is different" (blah blah), but not so much like everyone else's, what with the protruding from the front of the socket instead of from the sides like a good girl. This is a theory of the therapist's.

Anyway, on to yesterday's training, which blew for me. It was a flat course with a few options and lots of birds and water, so it should have been lovely. My body was just not having it. The cramp was there, and once the usual cramp leg numbed a bit so that I could get into my groove, the other leg started with the cramp. I was crying and I was praying and I was just trying to not quit. It was not to be. Once I got back around the trailhead/water stop, I had to stop. My body could not go on. I felt like a big turd, but one of the captains and coaches talked to me and encouraged me. Basically, they told me that everyone has days like that and that I should take a week off to baby my legs. So, I'm doing some icing and exercises that they told me about, and stretches that the p.t. told me to do. I think the week off will be good for me.

I was scared to take time off, but the one captain said that when she had shin splints, she took 3 weeks off and then went right to her 1/2 marathon and was fine. And I have plenty of time because I have also switched events. Yep! I am now going to be walking in the Nike Women's Marathon on October 22nd in my own neck of the woods- San Francisco. It looks like a really great event and I'm looking forward to it. Check out the official site via the link on the right!

I don't mean to sound like such a whiner, but you should have read the warning on your way in!! I'm just putting it all out here. And I don't want to give the impression that I'm negative about my training, because I'm really not. I am loving this and love being an athlete and I just want to figure out what my body is doing and get past this frustration so I can have more victorious days!

Nine and a half miles. A weird but good day.

This is a pic of the trail I was on, but obviously, that's not me.
I was glad to find a good map of the trails near my house, because I was able to head right out from my door for my walk today. My cramp tried to get me, but I kept it in check by going at a snails pace. Some tingling, but it went away. So that was good.

Another good thing: I ran into a teammate about 2.5 miles in, so that was nice. Being that we were all on our own today, I was half expecting to see people on the trails around here. This was Jen, who I often talk to and walk with, so we were together for about 3 miles, I would say. I met her at her halfway point, so she turned around and continued with me until I turned around. It was very nice to have company.

This is what was weird: I was walking for over 3 hours. THREE HOURS! So, I averaged about a 20 minute mile. Um, not what I'm going for. But here is what I'll look at as the bright side: I did get my miles in, and my body got a big dose of endurance training. I want to do the marathon in 6 hours or less, so this was showing my body half of that. Very slowly. Whatever.

Here are my half-hearted attempts at justification: blisters, hot, slower with friend instead of faster, 6 stop lights.

Seriously, I have no idea how it took me so long. But I didn't get the killer cramp and my leg didn't get numb, so I suppose it's a trade-off. I can pretend that my pedometer is right and that I actually did 11 miles.

The questions that arise during training: Why am I doing this? Can I do this?
Well, yes, I know I can do it. Because I'm doing it and I can see that, and also because I know that God has put this before me to do. But let me tell you, I thank God a lot when I'm almost home, because part of me almost can't believe that my body is actually doing this and didn't just quit, leaving me a moaning blob on the side of the trail waiting for a homeless guy or cyclist to fetch help for me.

Why? Well, I know why I'm doing it, too. Because I can and others can't. Because I want Jackson to see his 8th birthday and go back to school and have information and support for his family and see his 88th birthday.